Precision polishing for multi-media

Jeff Hoyle, founder of Hoyleline Injection Mould Polishing in Ajax, Ont. says he can save his multi-media manufacturing clients time and money when they take advantage of his new CD and DVD optical mold polishing service called lapping.

“Lapping is a precision process or combination of processes used to provide flatness, parallelism, size and surface finishes to extremely demanding tolerances,” Hoyle said. “Perfect for the finishing of CD, DVD, petri dish mold and many other applications, this new service is greatly reducing turnaround time for our clients and saving them money without the need to ship outside the country.”

According to Hoyle, the lapping process is a manufacturing method that employs particles of an abrasive material to remove stock from a surface. “It is comparable to sanding or grinding, except that sanding and grinding use abrasives that are fixed whereas lapping employs abrasives which are suspended in a liquid carrier and freely move about,” he said.

Hoyle, a 12-year veteran of professionally lapping optical finishes, insists a DVD insert requires extremely demanding tolerances in texture, flatness, parallelism and surface finish.

“Optical flats along with a monochromatic light are used to measure flatness of moulds in light bands, accurate to millionths of an inch,” he says. “Our machines are capable of achieving 0-3 light bands of flatness, well within industry standards with no ‘orange peel’ or ‘edge roll-off’.”

Jeff Hoyle can be reached at Hoyleline Injection Mould Polishing, 416-274-2484.